White Dwarf

Just bought White Dwarf. Not a regular subscriber or purchaser but I do like the Stormraven and if they do open it up to all chapters and I'm in the market to dish out £40+ for a baby drop-ship then it's nice to have the rules. GW take note, new rules made a purchase. Of course recent discussions on BoLS indicated that White Dwarf rules often fall by the wayside which I don't gather because back in the days of Rogue Trader they collected all the White Dwarf rules in the Warhammer 40,000 Compendium, which I still have. Sure it's not as neat as having all your races rules collected together in a single codex but this was an additional sale on top of the White Dwarf you originally got the rules in. Not to mention there was Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Squats, Harlequins, Robots, Dreadnoughts and all manner of other rules so this was a purchase that every 40k player needed not just those sticking to one race.

On a different point I noticed the Battle Report is Blood Angels V's Dark Eldar. Now if you haven't read it and don't want to know the result don't carry on but it's an easy guess. Latest Codex darlings V's latest big buy model. Is there ever a Battle Report where the latest army loses? Do they think we're that fickle we won't go for a new force if they lose in the magazine? How many games must they play to engineer the result they wish to $ell? Of course this battle required them to be both appealing so you can work out the outcome easily...

Heroquest

Don't be frightened, you are still at Confessions of a 40k addict [I still can't believe I got 40kaddict.blogspot.com] but things are going to get slightly more fantasy around here as I showcase some of my old Warhammer Fantasy Battle figures. To ease you in gently [as a lot of people were to Games Workshop] here's the Heroes from Heroquest the much loved, by some, boardgame GW did with MB Games. 

I don't know how I ended up with them but I did paint them up to be used with my Empire army [I forget which city state this Conan Wannabe with a floppy sword is from - ahh Nordland, just found my Empire book] but I also painted a few of the baddies so I know we were actually playing the game at the time, although not quite as seriously as when it first came out.

BTW that flesh colour is a Matt Humbrol Acrylic, another super opaque colour I loved. Sure it looks straight out of a cartoon but flesh paints had always been a nightmare for me right back to the Humbrol Enamel Flesh colour tin that opened while I shook it covering a brand new black jumper which never saw the light of day again for fear my mother hit the roof!

Next up an Ice Wizard! Ice magic was cool, I'll scan the magic card from my Empire book and revisit this guy and his Kislevite comrades. I still like this guy, there's some subtle techniques [I think] that still work. Epic IG decals on the legs and cloak, lightning bolts but they look sufficiently frost like. Some light frosting on his fingers, an attempt to make his Wizards staff like an icicle and semi-transparent [I think I nearly pull it off too] and some 5 o'clock shadow! Sure the cloaks highlights are too extreme but I love this guy. 

The Dwarf, not much to say about this fella but these highlighting techniques, exaggerated though they are were all preparing me for the Empire Army to come, something I was happy with, garish and cartoony but painted and tabletop ready. You'll also note the model railway ballast I've been harping on about. Sure it's not awesome but it isn't bad either, it's quick and it's natural and if you can't base figures I think it's a solution.

Here's the elf but I went another way with him. I'm not sure but I think in Dungeons and Dragons this would be a Drow, their equivalent of a Dark Elf. To be honest, despite it's prevalence I never played D&D, watched the cartoon series of course but the first time I ever saw a Drow it was at the Gathering, the largest live role-playing event in the UK and that was well into, if not coming to the end of my gaming history [until last year]. Anyway, it was a fun bit of painting and even though wildly different to the other three fits in well.

Yes, it does fit in well doesn't it as you can see below - The Heroes of Heroquest.

Terrain is everything - Vent Tower pt 1.

Back when I was having  a number of doubts about keeping up with this blog, they're still there by the way and my Son's ambivalence isn't easing this but you guys are, I previewed what I initially refered to as my 'Vent Tower'. This structure looks like some kind of power station vent and it's original idea came from this sketch:

As you can see above the tower came together quite well I managed to get the door arch done through four layers of foam card but the reinforced detailing at the base was problematic. At this stage I was reluctant to put it on as I knew the joins at the corners need to be neat and to achieve this the templates all had a 2mm overlap that I could trim down as needed to join up after dry-fitting. The biggest problem however is the roof. I really like the Gothic spires in the sketch but somewhere my measurments went askew and the roof is only just big enough for four miniatures. This means if I put any elements onto the current profile I won't be able to fit figures on the roof.

Also I really like the lines of the building as they are, so finding a way to add height but retain the roofspace is becoming a real challenge. I have looked at adding the spires to the corners, asymmetrically. It also makes a bit of sense as the spiral staircase in one corner would have some cover as people exited. On top of that I was looking at putting a Heavy Bolter into the protruding corners. Unfortunately though these additions screw up the lines of the main structure. Having asymetrical spires just don't work with the front arched doorway. So I've been looking at abutments on each side, this would require three heavy bolters for all round fire [I only want to spare two] or corner abutments on the back wall which would look a little odd.

Anyway, here's where I'm at so far, it doesn't look like there's been a huge amount of progress but the structure has been glued and the arch has been covered for a cleaner finish. All the reinforced detailing has been added and now I just have to deal with the roof...

As you can see below the corner spires just seem a bit odd. The first one is not too bad but it just doesn't work when you view it from the side and even worse when it's twin is sat above the arched doorway.. I'm thinking just a flat roof will be the solution, which is a shame as the sketch really works. Lots to think about, any suggestions, it may help or I may solve this regardless. For instance if I bite the bullet and install 3 Heavy Bolters then I only need the two spaces on the roof to account for a 5 man squad, which means I can install the assymetric spires following the same line as the tower...

P.S. don't worry about the alien planet terrain mat... it's not real

Drop poding

I write this blog in a weird way [I think], prepping many stories in advance because I had a years worth of experiences to get off my chest and a shedload of old miniatures to photograph. I hope the shattering of any illusions hasn't put anyone off the blog, it still leaves me with opportunities to move stories up or down the running order and interrupt my 'one day on one day off schedule' when there's big news. It doesn't really matter anyway because if I was writing articles on a bi-daily basis there'd be no stories at all, so that's the way it is, anyway...

However some stories do get missed or outdated, in particular I forgot to mention my good friend Pete got me a Drop Pod for Christmas. Now, bizarrely I didn't take any photographs of the construction process, it's almost as if I forgot I wrote a 40k blog. I'd read one decent review of the model and assembly and kind of felt another would be unnecessary. What I didn't do was try and find that review because I know it highlighted a number of issues with the model and perhaps a bit of understanding beforehand would have saved some frustration!

Anyway the Drop Pod currently is in bits. I have the passenger area and the five ramps in place with the 5 fins and the turbine separate. I think it'd be really difficulty to paint this fully constructed, this way may be easier but it's also a bit fiddly. Everything has been undercoated and boltgun metal applied where appropriate. I need to get some other metallic colours, copper, bronze etc. to make it suitably archaic inside.  There isn't much to see because the undercoat removes a lot of detail but here ya go.

Overall though it's a nice model and although some bits fit nicely together the center console that the harnesses attach to tilts at a funny angle. There's a special harness with a skull on and that's supposed to fit at a specific point on the console. Of course when you realise that you've already glued the plain one in that spot! I think there was reference to that in the review I read but, as I say, I forgot where that was. It doesn't seem to have done any harm which begs the question why have it?

Pete was extremely kind to get it for me, he wasn't sure if I wanted one but pointed out that it could be scenery as well, a really decent objective to capture so I think it'll be a valuable edition. Of course drop pods are 15pts more for Dark Angels and only have the option of a storm bolter but there's definitely going to be something satisfying about putting one on the battlefield and unfurl the ramps after making 'explosive bolt' noises and having a squad of marines barrel out.

Here we go - here's the tutorial I should have re-read by teamsnakeeyes. For instance getting the boltgun metal onto the centre console before I glued the harnesses on would have been 'advantageous', shall we say.

'nids part 16. Tyranid Prime Tutorial, part2

So here's the Prime with his Deathspitter in place. G.O.D. that was a nightmare. Like many my workspace is a little, how should we put it? Like a Landfill! Trying to find that Deathspitter was like a needle in a haystack. Actually the weapon was fine it was the left arm attachment which was missing. Looked high and low, tried Termagant arms in replacement - too small and even considered buying one on ebay. In the end I found it because it was no longer what I was looking for, insomuch as I had already cut the forearm off just leaving the bicep and the pipe. The forearm was being used in my Doom of Malantai conversion, as it's neck! More on that another time.

Getting back to the missing forearm, I ended up using that Termagant Fleshborer arm, chopped down and glued to the stump and pipe. The advantage is it was now double-jointed, 2 elbows and gave plenty of clearance round the chest plate [something the Termgant arm alone couldn't do and looked puny] now it's better than if it was the Warrior arm alone.

You can also see I've added a tongue [it's snapped off once already and yet our current Prime remains undamaged, touch wood!] Lash Whip was added, more PVA coated string to add musculature to the whip and a Trygon spine was heat-welded to the paper clip. The Bonesword was added without hassle.

So there you have it, I'll probably do some painting shots for kicks, it's content for the blog at least. This is a really easy conversion to do, the hardest part was probably the Lash Whip but nothing anyone wouldn't be able to achieve. It can be done in a couple of hours really. I actually thought of getting another Original Warrior to do a Prime to sell on ebay, hopefully funding another box of Warriors which I'd have to decide on bulking up the existing squad or finally tackling the Shrikes...

Meanwhile this full-frontal shot shows you why the gun's up top - to shoot over any intervening terrain/models and the combat weapons are at Human height, where it needs to be.

Tyranid Prime V2.0 | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4.

Epic Space Marines part 9. - Ultramarines part 5. Odds and Sods

Nearly at the end of my Smurfs coverage and these are a little interesting because of the odd lead (PB in the Periodic Table) Epic miniatures. First up my Ultramarine Terminators. They look so cool in squads of 5 but I was missing one so co-opted a lead Space Marine with Power Fist, he's nearly the same size and actually looks like some form of Terminator Captain.

Mole Mortars, another useful little cheap artillery unit. In this case the lead figures are massive, surely the largest Space Marines in existence! Look at the size of the fella compared to the standard plastic marine.

Here's an unfinished Devastator squad. Again I used accent colours on backpacks and weapons to differentiate the units. These were obviously the red label [gold and silver being the alternates] I really dig the white missile launchers. Humbrol Matt Whit Acrylic had gorgeous flat opacity and it was really easy to apply. I also had quite a few technical drawing pens at the time so you can see the yellow shoulder pads have all been outlined in Black, something I'd try more often for different things in the future.

Thanks for sticking with this 'Epic' Ultramarine memory lane, there's one more post with some group shots of everything to come and then I'll pick up on my remaining unfinished Titans and that'll probably be the end of my Epic journey.

'nids part 15. Tyranid Prime Tutorial, part1

Here's your basic common or garden Advance Space Crusade Tyranid Warrior last seen on ebay with an upside down 'old-skool' Deathspitter and two rending claws. As you can see they've been removed, along with the top of his head. It's a painless procedure if you wedge it in a piece of blue-tac and shave pits off. Well painless until you absent-mindedly stab your thumb [but I mentioned that already].

Then you need a current Tyranid Warrior head, which is cool because each Tyranid Warrior box-set comes with two heads per body. Now I sliced the lower part of the head off but I've since seen another tutorial that slices the front of the old warriors face off and uses the New Warrior parts instead. Anyway this bit's tricky because it's harder to balance the head in the blue-tac without causing damage to yourself, so be careful!

First picture below is the side on view of the head glued in place. Then next up is some new bits added on. A couple of Monstrous Creature spines [although there's one of these, without the nicks in the chitin, on the Warrior Sprue. Also an Adrenal Gland on his front, bulks him out a little on the mid-riff. 

Toxin Sacs were added to his head. The one on the left is a double MC one but they're all the same on the sprue so would have been upside down on the right side of the head, so I used two Termagant Toxin Sacs. On my first Prime I used only one Termagant Toxin Sac on each side. Game play you can run them as the toxin, or say they are Enhanced Synapse to raise your Warriors BS and WS. Really they're only there to mask the join between old and new head! You can also see a Termagant spike attached to the back of the head, this is also to mask the join.

Last shot is going to be the Lash Whip. This Prime is going to be armed with a Deathspitter [up top] and Lash Whip and Bonesword down below. Our current Prime is always footslogging with the other Warriors and having all out combat is useless. Having a Deathspitter will add an extra 3 shots, which have been quite effective to date, more so than his assault results. Alternatively a Devourer could have been an option to help lower Leadership but I'd rather go with firepower over the chance of a morale check...

Anyway, a donor Devourer had it's muzzle cut off and a paper clip was bent for the Whip. Don't worry about mounting it, drilling a hole isn't necessary, hold the wire over a candle with some pliers for a bit and it can be pushed straight into the handle. A bit of care and common sense with naked flames and scalding metal but it bonds real quick.

Next step, adding the arms and armaments...

Tyranid Prime V2.0 | part 1. | part 2. | part 3. | part 4.

Epic Space Marines part 8. - Ultramarines part 4. Dreads and robots

Epic Ultramarine Dreadnoughts. Not a whole lot to say except the two Dreads with banners managed to do something spectacular in a battle to warrant such displays. I think one in particular took out my mate Chris's Eldar Avatar in one game. So they got the banners and some of the IG decals which look kinda cool if not totally Codex in today's gaming circles.

Just a little shift in focus to pick up on the back dread.

Robots, I loved robots in Epic because you got them on both the Space Marine and Imperial Guard Sprues so you could field quite a lot in your army if you'd bought both box sets, which I had. |I think they had specific 'programs' to follow but they weren't quite as restrictive as you'd imagine and if you paired them with the dreads for a little versatility all your bases were covered.

My mate in the news

As you know it takes a rare moment to interupt my 'every other day' blogging schedule but today is one such moment.

My mate Liam made the BoLS Wargames Gallery yesterday. I've got a post coming up [eventually] about our 'old' gaming crew and Liam was very much a part of that crew 50% of games were held in his house. His painting and modelling skills are even more advanced now so please stop by BolS and show some love if you can.

Feel the earth tremble!

40k future container scatter terrain - UPDATE, AGAIN!

As promised in my last update on 40k future container scatter terrain here's an update on the 7 further containers I produced. Before I begin though lets remind ourselves of the wonderful Mentos Cubes donor skeleton.

And here's the first tutorial that showed how to make them.

First up is my liquid container encased in wire mesh.
Firstly I removed the lid and used a poster tube cap to create a new lid. I got some circular 'granny grating' to go on the top. Two corners had brass picture hooks for lifting, the other two corners had some crafting gems, octagonal shaped, they look like ornate rivets/bolts. Then I got some 'granny grating' and judiciously removed chunks of it to get a mesh size suitable to fit the cube.

As you can see some of the grid that was cut out leaves behind stubs but I like this, it makes it look more like rebar, it's more texture at least. I also added some corrugated cardboard on the base so it looks like it's on an integral pallet. The mesh had to have some bits of wire tied round it to ensure the mesh box stayed together but plenty of PVA 'welding' is holding it together. There are also corner supports on the base. Still got to finish the painting, silver on the mesh and rust effects. Not overly keen on my semi transparent plastic with stagnant green liquid inside but there's not much I can do.

Below is the Dark Angel Container, reinforced at opposite corners with some more octagonal shaped crafting gems for rivets. First level of rust applied, orange still to add and metallic scrapes. Also DA chapter markings.

Here's the Biohazard containers. The two with caps on are obviously the right way up. I removed the lid and used a poster tube cap to create a new lid. I used a template to cut out the Biohazard symbol for one lid and used the blank for the other. Two corners had brass picture hooks for lifting, the other two corners had some crafting gems. The third container is the usual upside down reinforced version with 'granny grating' on the top. Not 100% convinced on the yellow, but as it's not finished yet hopefully the orange rust still to add,  metallic scrapes and markings should tone them down a little bit.

Lastly a group shot with the two OOCL containers. Again the rust is a bit overpowering and it's not quite as beige as I'd hoped but we'll reserve judgement until they're complete. Still not sure if keeping them to fewer colours would have worked better, time will tell.

There's still a little something missing in the paint-jobs, they certainly don't have the realism of my turquoise containers, but I have to recall my fundamental law of painting - 'reserve judgement until complete'. So many times I've been unhappy about a model's progress only to be overjoyed at the final results. The original containers themselves went through this process and came out alright, their siblings deserve the same chance.

.pdf templates for the reinforcements if anyone wants to give it a go.

Epic Space Marines part 7. - Ultramarines part 3. Armoured support

More from my Epic Ultramarines, a selection of amoured support. First up some original Predators, I actually attempted the same effect with my large scale Dark Angels - a ruddy great orange turret! Unfortunately I can't find it anyhwere, so I currently have a 40k Predator chassis, with the las-cannon sponsons but no turret!

Original Whirlwinds, based on the DIY tutorial that was in White Dwarf. I made two full scale Whirlwind Turrets at the time, I've still got them and they're detachable so may wellfeature in my reborn Dark Angels force.

Lastly, Vindicators. These are the Mk 2 design from Epic. I have some of the original Mk 1's based on the DIY tutorial that was in White Dwarf but these were the ones I got fully painted, decalled and varnished. Maybe the decals are a bit Imperial Guard now but I still like the idea that these models have markings on top, so they can be seen clearly by Titans and Gunships overhead. It really brings a sense of scale.

Epic Space Marines part 6. - Ultramarines part 2. Thunderhawks

Here's my Thunderhawks. G.O.D. I loved Thunderhawks in Epic. They were the single best unit for Space Marines, shortly followed by Land Raiders and then Tarantulas [in my book]. Realistically there was no way the amount of stands suggested could fit inside one but they were the best delivery unit.

Drop pods were ridiculous, you put a stack of card drop pod markers on a blast template, balanced it on a ruler, then tipped the template, where a marker landed you replaced it with a pod. If it landed off-table or on terrain I think it was destroyed and even if it did land units on First Fire orders got to 'snap fire' at the incoming pods and blow them up before landing - useless!

Better to have one of these babies swoop in from anywhere, blast hell out of everything with it's rockets and cannon and then carry on being a thorn in your opponents side for the remainder of the game.

As you can see there's a squad of three for some Tactical Units and a personal transport, I think this was for a Chaplain, or an Inquisitor, whatever I felt was the best option at the time. Two coloured decals were used to get the winged Ultramarine Skull.

Not so sure how I feel the new version of the Thunderhawk shapes up against these, design-wise, then again these aren't exactly iconic [or even aerodynamic] but I've always liked them nontheless.

Actually, just spotted they look more like the new Stormraven with underslung wings than a Thunderhawk...

Biel Tan-tastic

So my son got some Eldar for Christmas, that seems ages ago now but this blog isn't always current. Anyway despite my request for advice and my son's initial desire for Iyanden and Nacretineï he decided on Biel Tan. Not sure why, his cousin has White Scars army so they'll look very similar. Now despite my instructions to 'not interfere' I thought I'd at least come up with some painting plans for him to follow so he could get a decent result. However, when I asked him if he wanted to start on some of my old Warhammer Fantasy Battle High Elves he said 'no, he'd rather go straight to the Guardians and Jetbike'. 

Of course I sat with him and painted these fellas whilst he did, ultimately wishing I hadn't because I found a better solution in my tests than the one I suggested based on this tutorial. I really liked Lloyd's guide and his Guardian looked cool but perhaps a beginner using Badab Black as a light wash for white isn't always going to be subtle. 

Anyhoo my test below from left to right is 

• Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat with white drybrush [subtle]
  Black basecoat helmet with Sap Green craft acrylic [glossy]
• Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat, Badab Black wash, with white drybrush [less subtle]
  Black basecoat helmet with Vallejo Dark Green [matt]
• Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat, Badab Black wash, with white drybrush [less subtle]
  White basecoat helmet with Vallejo Dark Green [neon but kind of acts like a wash so built in highlights]
• Anita's Baby Blue craft acrylic basecoat, with white drybrush [so subtle, so pretty, soperfect]
  Black basecoat helmet with Sap Green craft acrylic [glossy]

The right one is what he should have done, less mess, easier to do and quicker as it's one less paint to add.

So here is my son's first Jetbike using the 'Vallejo Stonewall grey basecoat, Badab Black wash, with white drybrush [less subtle] and Black basecoat helmet with Vallejo Dark Green [matt] method.

And the Guardians...

To be honest I can't say I've learned enough from my Being a Pushy Dad post. I've still helped to much, there were tears and tantrums and really I should just leave him to it. On the plus side we had two sessions of painting to get to this stage and he did instigate the second session which is progress in my book and I think I left him to it more the second time. Inbetween all these Eldar I've got him painting a Genestealer and a base of Rippers but I've not photographed them.